Louisville basketball: Pat Kelsey praises team after NCAA Tournament loss
Louisville basketball coach Pat Kelsey praises the Cardinals following an 89-75 loss to Creighton in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
- J’Vonne Hadley, the consummate glue guy for Louisville basketball during Year 1 of the Pat Kelsey era, decided to use an extra year of eligibility to return for the 2025-26 season.
- Below, we break down Hadley’s game and how he fits into Kelsey’s Year 2 roster.
After leading Louisville basketball to one of the largest turnarounds in Division I history, Pat Kelsey built a 2025-26 roster that’s garnering lofty expectations. This summer, The Courier Journal is taking a player-by-player look at the team, dissecting what each one will bring to the Cardinals. Up next: J’Vonne Hadley.
To catch up on previous entries in the series, click here.
A few years ago, toiling away at Indian Hills Community College, J’Vonne Hadley used to sit back and wonder if he’d ever make it back to Division I basketball.
“That’s where I found that grit,” he said.
He didn’t know it then, but Hadley found something else in Ottumwa, Iowa: an additional year of eligibility. Having clawed his way back to the top — and established himself as the consummate glue guy of Pat Kelsey’s Louisville basketball revival — the 6-foot-6 guard from St. Paul, Minnesota, decided to run it back with the Cardinals in 2025-26.
“Louisville basketball is back,” Hadley said after U of L lost to Creighton at Rupp Arena in the first round of last season’s NCAA Tournament. “It obviously needs to stay that way.”
Hadley was invaluable to Kelsey during his first season under the coach’s guidance — a Swiss Army knife that never dulled as the Cards weathered one impactful injury after another. After he went for a career-high 32 points during a Jan. 7 win over Clemson at the KFC Yum! Center, Kelsey called him “the ultimate blue-collar, lunch-pail guy.
“The job he does behind the scenes — under the radar a little bit — is huge,” the coach added. “He is a major, major, major piece of why we’re really good.”
That’ll need to be the case again in 2025-26 if U of L is to reach its full potential. The flashy new additions to the roster are nice, but someone has to get the group moving to a collective heartbeat.
Here’s a look back at Hadley’s 2024-25 season and a breakdown of what his role could be in Year 2 of the Kelsey era:
Last May, analytics guru Evan Miyakawa of EvanMiya.com told The Courier Journal that Hadley would be “one of the most surefire impact players” Kelsey added during his roster overhaul.
“Definitely trustworthy,” he said of the Colorado transfer. “Definitely throw him right in the lineup.”
Miyakawa was spot on. Hadley was the only Louisville player to start all 35 games of the 2024-25 season. He led the Cards in rebounding (7.3, a career high) and finished fourth in scoring (12.2, a career high) across 33.1 minutes per contest. Accordingly, his seven double-doubles were the most on the team.
After U of L lost Kasean Pryor for the season due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament, and with others on the mend from various injuries at different junctures, Hadley took on more of a forward role in Kelsey’s system. He didn’t miss a beat.
Hadley’s 57.2% clip from 2-point range ranked in the 89th percentile, per CBBAnalytics.com. His rebounding rates of 17.4% (defensive) and 7.6% (offensive) were in the 94th and 95th percentile, respectively. He also shot 38.1% (32 for 84) from beyond the arc and typically had to guard well above his frame.
“I don’t complain when (Kelsey) says, ‘J’Vonne, go play that 5,'” Hadley said after his career night against Clemson. “Whatever he needs me to do to impact the game, I’m going to try to go out there and do it.”
Former Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said it best after Hadley went for 18 points and 11 rebounds in a win over the Seminoles on Feb. 22 at the Yum! Center: “I think every team tries to have a guy like Hadley on their team, a guy who just is extremely competitive — and his motor’s always running. That’s just that ‘it’ thing that some guys have; that, regardless of their size, they just find a way. Because they’re wired that way.”
Kelsey knows what he’s getting in Hadley — more so than any other returner in the mix for 2025-26.
The question is: Just how much will his role change on what’s shaping up to be a deeper and more versatile team?
Assuming Pryor rebounds from his injury and Aly Khalifa wins his appeal to the NCAA for an additional year of eligibility, Hadley shouldn’t be needed as much in the post as he was in 2024-25; especially if international prospects such as Sananda Fru and Evangelos “Vangelis” Zougris prove to be solid rotation pieces.
That would free him up to play more of a traditional 3, where his physicality and ability to stretch the floor could make him a matchup nightmare.
Hadley can make a strong case for being an everyday starter in Year 2 of the Kelsey era. At his very best, he has a projected 2025-26 net rating of 7.8 (in the 97th percentile) on Hoop-Explorer.com, meaning he’d be nearly eight points per 100 possessions better than the average DI player. At his worst, the number drops to 5.5 (in the 92nd percentile).
But, with additional weapons at the coach’s disposal, there will likely be more lineup variation based on opponents’ style of play and lighter minute shares up and down the roster.
Don’t be surprised if Hadley comes off the bench in a few games next season. It won’t diminish his importance as one of the leaders of this team.
“He’s the type of kid you hope shows up at your door to date your daughter,” Kelsey said.
Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
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